*Surprises Come In All forms*

She stood there with the rest of them when the call came in, but as soon as
she started walking towards the dragon's ledge with the rest of them, her
new sister stood squarely in her path.

"Shawnee if you take one more step, I'll tie you down myself, you're not
coming. Saul, I need you to gather some of the more experienced riders and
torches..." She frowned. "Who is the Watch rider tonight?"

Shawnee stood there frowning while Saul rattled off the names she was
looking. "Get him, as well."

Saul nodded and turned to Shawnee. He kissed her, "Be good."

"I'm going to get put back on duty tomorrow, Saul." She reminded him. it was
way past time for her to being her duties to the Warren, and she for one
would be happy when she was finally allowed to fly with Doshy again. 

He nodded, "I know .. but for tonight you stay here."

He soon joined the others, climbing onto the brilliant blue of Fayloth's
hide and taking off to rescue the bear nomad.

Holding the little "Bear" who'd been handed to her when Merissa had followed
the others out, Shawnee walked as far as the ledge outside before she felt
the presents of her new *father* beside her.

"Come back inside my dear and we can keep each other company and get to know
each other, until they return and tell us what happened."

She nodded, trailing inside with him.

"Now, can you tell me what is happening?"

"Oldreth...  the new queenrider, he's -- he's been attacked."

"Attacked?"  Jerlyn frowned as Anis came out of Chance's kitchen with
glasses of fruit juice.  "That does not sound good... Ah, thank you, love."
His wife settled in beside him, curling a warm hand around his elbow.  "But
we can't assume that the same will happen to the
people that we love."

Shawnee took a moment to put the now sleeping *bear* down on his pallet and
reached out to take her daughter in her arms, hugging the little one to her. 

"I want to be there, to help..."  Her hands brushed Lynnie's hair and Anis
leaned forward, brushing Shawnee's hand comfortingly.

"You are, Shawnee.  Knowing that you are safe, that Lynnie and Fawna and
Ojee are safe and protected...  That will help Saul and Chance because they
won't have to worry about you.  They both love you dearly."  A bright-eyed
glance showed mischief, and he smiled as Anis
leaned back.  "Now how they're going to take it when you start riding
combat, I have no idea..."

Shawnee chuckled. "Well I'm afraid that after my appointment with the healer
to get cleared in the morning, you're going to have the chance to find out."

"Oh dear," Anis muttered amused. "I wonder how your husband will take that."

Shawnee laughed slightly, letting the Husband tag go by. If these fine
people chose to think better of her mate by calling him her *husband* who
was she to correct them. 

On a more somber note, her smile drained from her face as she turned to meet
the eyes of both the people sitting with her. 

"I haven't told you yet how much this all means to me," she said and saw her
new father raise a hand as if to wave off her thanks. 

"I mean it. You didn't have to help us out. But you did and now that I don't
have to worry about what will happen to Fawna and Ojean... well it lifts
that burden from my mine and makes it easier for me. But I have to tell you
that our real father is here in Whiteriver."

She could tell this shocked them slightly, and saw the look pass between them. 

"I also wanted to tell you about him, and why I'm so happy you both did what
you did. I was so afraid he'd try to take my siblings from me the same way
Owlean did... though I know now that's not the case... but I don't want him
even maybe trying to lay any kind of claim to them. He had his chance and
chose to leave us behind with only Owlean to protect us. I'm afraid that if
things went bad for him again, he'd do the same thing all over again, and I
can't...no I won't take a chance of that happening to them again. They've
been through to much already."

Jerlyn patted her hand. "You won't have to worry about that now dear. You've
our family's protect added to your name and we hold dear to those we love."

"Thank you both," she leaned over and gave them both a hug. Then the child
in her arms began to fuss and she straiten up. 

"I think I need to get her home, but Merissa left her son with me to keep an
eye on." she told them, not knowing what to do as the little girl's fussing
increased. 

"Go ahead and take out granddaughter on home dear," Anis told her. "I'm not
to old to remember what to do with a baby when their awake. I'll keep your
little *bear* until Katla come homes, or Merissa comes for him."

Kanler 
*******

Even as they landed he could tell Chance had everything under control. Not
once did he feel the need to question any of her orders and found himself
following any that she gave. 

By the time they called it a night, and he'd helped set up guards around the
area, he decided he'd never been more proud of her as he was at that moment. 

Yes she'd do to lead. There was that something about her that people just
naturally tended to follow. Just the sort of thing a leader had to have or
no one would feel comfortable taking orders from them or trust them, but
Chance had it. 

And Kanler was sure she didn't even know it.

He was however a little worried when he saw her leaning against her dragon
sometime later. 

"You okay?" he asked, trying not to sound to concerned, knowing she wouldn't
care for that.

Katla glanced up at Kanler and smiled.  "Yeah, more or less."

"Looks like the party's over." He quipped, stating the obvious. 

Katla blinked at him and laughed.

"Come on love," he grinned back at her and moved to give her a hand up.
"Let's get you home."

They landed a few minutes later on the dragon ledge of her apartment, and he
was off Sariss before she could dismount and was at her side, helping to
ease her to the ground before her sore legs could be jarred by the contact
with the ground. 

"You didn't need to help me down," she told him, then smiled warmly to ease
the statement.


"Who says I didn't have a hidden plan when I did?" he grinned down at her
and pulled her body close to his. 

"Did you?" she asked, suddenly a little shy.

"Yup," his grin widen as his eyes met and held hers.

"What?"

"This." he said and lowered his mouth down to cover hers. 

They were both trebling when he at last release her lips. Both holding on to
the other for the support. 

"Wow," he muttered softly, pulling her closer. "I've never felt... anything
like I do when I'm with you."

"Oh Kanler... my parents..." she said softly but allowed his arms around her. 

"I know..." he titled her head up until her eyes met his. "But they won't
always be around and when you're ready I'm going to make love to you."

He kissed her once more and then turned with a sigh, mounted Sariss and the
two took off to go back to his lonely bed. 

Shawnee 
*********

Shawnee was just laying Lynnie down after her final night feeding when Saul
landed on their ledge. She hurried out to the living room to meet him after
making sure their daughter was still sleeping.

"Any signs of anything?" Shawnee asked him.

"Very little," Saul shrugged.

"Who would do that, Saul?"

"I don't know," he said moving to pull her to him. "I don't know. But now
you know why I don't want you out there .. anything could happen and I
couldn't bear to lose you."

"And how do you think I feel .."

"Shawnee, it's different. I'm a trained dragonrider .. I've been doing this
for a long time."

"I'm trained too .." she reminded him with a frown. Somehow she was going to
have to get him to see that. But now wasn't the time. After Th'rin cleared
her in the morrow, she'd show him he had nothing to be concerned with her about.

"I don't want to argue about this."

"Me either," She said hugging him tightly. "We'll let Th'rin decide when I
see him tomorrow."

She didn't see his frown, as she was already leading him back into their
bedroom. 

Once there she began to slowly unbutton his shirt and her lips began to drop
tiny kisses on the flesh exposed with each new opening. Then moving down
between them, her hands found the opening to his pants and as she opened it
she knelt before him. 

"I'd much rather us do something else right now then fight love," she
grinned and moved the few inches to join them.

................

Shawnee was already dresses in the med gown when the door opened and Th'rin
walked in. She smiled up at him and stood.

"So you want to get back to patrolling."

"Absolutely." She grinned.

"All right let's see how your doing?"

She climbed up on the examining table and put her feet in the stirrups. "I
hate these things," she muttered, wishing it was Clarissa here with her. she
knew her and felt far more comfortable with her friend. Not that she didn't
trust Th'rin... for she did.

He chuckled, "All my patients say that."

A few minutes later, after he'd run a few test, took blood, and asked her
how she was feeling, he left her to get dressed while he took the samples to
have them run.

Shawnee quickly, removed the med gown and got into her own things. Her
thoughts turn to her meeting with the woman her father had married and
wondered just how she was going to tell her about the adoption. 

It really shouldn't matter, Dontey had had his chance and had blown it when
he'd left them alone with Owlean instead of taking them with him when he had
left. Shawnee would never forgive the man for that.

When she was finished dressing she left the examining room and wondered down
the hall to Th'rin's office to wait for him there. 

Joy filled her at the thought of finally being about to get back on patrol
and fly with Doshy. Surely after a time even Saul would have to stop
worrying about her being able to do the work a dragonrider was sworn to do. 

But her joy turned to something else when the door opened and a sonic faced
healer walked back into the room. 

"Is there something wrong with my test?" she asked, concern and worry now
filled her. "I am okay aren't I?"

"Oh what.. Ah yes," he grinned with effort. "All you're test indicate that
you are in top health and fully recovered from giving birth to Lynnie."

"But?" she pushed knowing there was something he wasn't telling her. "You
might as well tell me Th'rin? Am I cleared for patrol duty... or not?"

"Well..."  

"Well??" she insisted growing more worried as he hesitated. "Am I or am I not?"

"You're not. Not yet anyway," he said finally and saw the shocked expression
steal over her lovely face. 

"Then you did find something wrong?"

"No.. not really," he countered. "As I said, your test proved just how
healthy you are... "

"Then why aren't you clearing me for duty?"

"Because your test also proved that you're pregnant again. Congratulations."

"Oh gods..." she muttered, thinking about what Saul's reaction would be.

.................

<Fayloth!!! We're going to have another hatchling!!> the excited little teal
told her ledge mate. <Isn't that wonderful??>

*Oh yes. Wonderful.* the blue agreed with a chuckle. <I'm sure my rider will
be just thrilled to find out.*

Kanler
*******

He was waiting for Chance as soon as she came out of the Warrenlady's
office, and was pleased at the smile that came into her eyes when she saw him.

"All finished?" he asked as he took her hand in his. "I was hoping maybe
you'd join me for lunch?"

[Tag Jill... will she tell him what went on?]

Shawnee
********

Shawnee was just putting lunch on the table, warned ahead of time from her
dragon that Fayloth and his rider were on the way home.

She'd been worrying all morning long about how she was going to tell him he
was about to be a father again. Several idea's came to mind... but none of
them would work or even sounded right. 

What was she going to do?

In the end she did nothing.

Saul walked into the apartment and she turned to face him. "Hungry love?"
she asked, forcing a smile on her face as if nothing was wrong.

"Starved," he agreed coming towards her and pulling her close. "Think lunch
can wait a bit?"

"Oh... do you have something else in mind you'd rather do?" she grinned,
this time it came easy.

"Yup," he said kissing her. "Talk. We don't do enough of that do we love?"

"When do you give me the time," she chuckled, snuggling up to him, not
noticing the look on his face. 

"Well I've come to learn recently that for a relation ship to work, both
party's have to be open and honest with one another....."

She pulled back away from him and looked up, reading what was there in his eyes.

He knew. Somehow she knew he knew, and had been waiting for her to tell him.

"Oh Saul," she cried softly. "I didn't try for it to happen. I swear. But
Th'rin told me I'm pregnant again."

*****Submitted by: *******

Shawnee & Doshayne
Kanler & Sariss
Whiteriver Warren 

aka
Barbara